The present disclosure relates generally to medical methods and devices. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to methods and systems for controlling retrograde blood flow during performance of stenting and other procedures to treat carotid or cerebral artery disease.
Carotid artery disease usually consists of deposits of plaque which narrow the internal carotid artery ICA at or near the junction between the common carotid artery and the internal carotid artery. These deposits increase the risk of embolic particles being generated and entering the cerebral vasculature, leading to neurologic consequences such as transient ischemic attacks TIA, ischemic stroke, or death. In addition, should such narrowings become severe, blood flow to the brain is inhibited with serious and sometimes fatal consequences.
Two principal therapies are employed for treating carotid artery disease. The first is carotid endarterectomy CEA, an open surgical procedure which relies on clamping the common, internal and external carotid arteries, surgically opening the carotid artery at the site of the disease (usually the carotid bifurcation where the common carotid artery divides into the internal carotid artery and external carotid artery), dissecting away and removing the plaque, and then closing the carotid artery with a suture. The risk of emboli release into the internal and external arteries is minimized. During the procedure while the artery is opened, all the carotid artery branches are clamped so particles are unable to enter the vasculature. The arteries are debrided and vigorously flushed before closing the vessels and restoring blood flow. Because the clinical consequence of emboli release into the external carotid artery is less significant, the common carotid and external carotid arteries are usually unclamped first, so that any embolic particles which remain in the bifurcation or in the common carotid artery are flushed from the common carotid artery into the external carotid artery. As a last step, the internal carotid artery clamp is opened to restore arterial flow throughout the carotid circulation.
The second procedure, carotid artery stenting CAS, relies on deployment and expansion of a metallic stent across the carotid artery stenosis, typically at or across the branch from the common carotid artery into the internal carotid artery, or entirely in the internal carotid artery, depending on the position of the disease. Usually, a self-expanding stent is introduced through a percutaneous puncture into the femoral artery in the groin and up the aortic arch into the target common carotid artery. If deemed necessary, a balloon dilatation of the stenosis is performed before the stent is inserted, to open the lesion and facilitate the placement of the stent delivery catheter and of other devices. In the majority of instances, a balloon dilatation is performed on the stenosis after the stent is placed, to optimize the luminal diameter of the stented segment. Usually, a guide wire remains in place across the stenosis during the entire intervention of the stenosis to facilitate the exchange of the various devices for pre-dilatation, stent delivery, and post-dilatation. The guide wire remains in place until a final angiogram confirms an acceptable outcome.
In carotid stenting procedures, adjunct embolic protection devices are usually used to at least partially alleviate the risk of emboli. The primary category of embolic protection devices is distal filters. These filters are positioned in the internal carotid artery distal to the region of stenting. The filter is intended to capture the embolic particles to prevent passage into the cerebral vasculature. Such filtering devices, however, carry certain limitations. They must be advanced to the target vessel and cross the stenosis prior to deployment, which exposes the cerebral vascular to embolic showers; they are not always easy to advance, deploy, and remove through a tight stenosis and/or a severely angulated vasculature; and finally, they only filter particles larger than the filter pore size, typically 100 to 120 μm. There is also concern that these devices do not filter 100% of the flow due to incomplete wall opposition of the filter, especially around their perimeter, and furthermore there is a risk of debris escape during filter retrieval.
Alternative methods for reducing embolic risk during CAS procedures have been proposed utilizing the concept of stopping or reversing the flow into the internal carotid artery to prevent embolic debris entering the cerebral vasculature. In a static flow method proposed by Reimers and Coppi, the common carotid artery and external carotid artery are occluded during the intervention using a dual balloon cannula inserted transfemorally to the target carotid artery. The distal balloon is positioned in the external carotid artery and the proximal balloon is positioned in the common carotid artery. An opening in the cannula between the balloons is used to deliver the interventional devices into the target internal carotid artery. During periods of the intervention and at the end of the intervention prior to establishing forward flow in the internal carotid artery, aspiration is performed between the two balloons to remove embolic debris.
In reverse flow protocols, the arterial access cannula is connected to a venous cannula or to a low pressure external receptacle in order to establish a reverse or retrograde flow shunt from the internal carotid artery through the arterial cannula and away from the cerebral vasculature. A reverse flow protocol has been proposed by Parodi using a percutaneous, transfemoral approach. Flow in the common carotid artery is occluded, typically by inflating a balloon on the distal tip of the cannula. Flow into the external carotid artery may also be occluded, typically using a balloon catheter introduced through the cannula. After such reverse or retrograde flow is established, the stenting procedure may be performed with a greatly reduced risk of emboli entering the cerebral vasculature. An alternate reverse flow protocol utilizing a surgical, transcervical approach has been proposed by Criado and Chang. Such an approach eliminates complications associated with gaining transfemoral endovascular access to the common carotid artery, and allows the possibility of much shorter and potentially larger profile interventional devices. In addition, the shorter length reduces the flow resistance and thus increases the level of reverse flow achievable. This increased reverse flow reduces the need to occlude the external carotid artery by reducing the potential flow from the external carotid artery antegrade to the internal carotid artery during common carotid artery occlusion in the case of an external carotid artery to internal carotid artery pressure gradient. The elimination of the external carotid artery occlusion balloon greatly reduces the complexity, risk and potential complications of the procedure.
When an interventional catheter is inserted into the arterial access sheath, the reverse flow shunt resistance is at a maximum. In some percentage of patients, the external carotid artery ECA perfusion pressure is greater than the internal carotid artery ICA perfusion pressure. In these patients, this differential pressure might drive antegrade flow into the ICA from the ECA. A reverse flow shunt with lower flow resistance could guarantee reversal of flow in both the ECA and ICA despite a pressure gradient from the ECA to the ICA.
During a CAS procedure, there are periods of increased risk of release of embolic debris. These periods have been documented in studies using Transcranial Doppler (TCD) technology to measure the passage of embolic debris in the cerebral arteries during the CAS procedure. One of these periods is when a device, for example a dilatation balloon or stent delivery device, crosses the stenosis. Another example is when the post-stent dilatation balloon is deflated (presumably releasing embolic particles that have been generated during the dilatation). For reverse or static flow protocols where the common carotid artery is occluded, there is also an elevated risk of embolic particles when the common carotid artery is un-occluded. It would be desirable to provide methods and devices which could offer augmented protection from embolic events during critical periods of intervention.
Also during a CAS procedure, there are periods when the user injects a liquid radiopaque contrast solution (“contrast”) or saline flush solution into the carotid artery through a flush line. This is done to visualize the overall vascular anatomy, as well as to evaluate the hemodynamics and morphology of the diseased segment. It may also be used to assess the antegrade or retrograde flow during periods of the procedure. Aspiration may also occur through a flush line, to clear the line of contrast and/or air bubbles. During injection and/or aspiration, the user must close off the reverse flow shunt, perform the injection and/or aspiration step, and then re-open the shunt to re-establish reverse flow. This temporary closure may be accomplished by a stopcock in the shunt line. However, a stopcock must be manually closed and then manually re-opened. A disadvantage of this manual method is the possibility that the user will forget to re-open the shunt line after the injection or aspiration step, and therefore fail to re-establish retrograde flow.
Another method may be to insert a spring-loaded flow stop actuator, or flow stopper, which can be actuated during an injection step and which automatically re-opens upon release. This method eliminates the possible failure to re-open the shunt line after an injection. However, this method requires the user to use one hand to actuate the flow stopper during the injection, or to require another user to do so. In addition, in the event the user does not actuate the flow stopper, there will be a failure of the injection solution, for example the contrast, to enter into the vasculature as desired. It would be desirable to provide methods and devices which could automatically close off a reverse flow shunt during injection into and aspiration from an arterial access sheath.